PayEx och Telenor har startat ett gemensamt företag: Valuecodes AS

(Fornebu/Oslo, 11 October 2010) Telenor and PayEx have joined forces and established the company Valuecodes. By combining their knowledge and experience their objective is to take a leading role in the new digital market for coupons, gift vouchers and tickets.

Following the change in the Norwegian Marketing Practices Act in the summer of 2009 the focus on the coupon market in Norway has grown, but so far few players have managed to come up with effective solutions to increase value for the companies and their customers. The situation in Sweden is very different; around 60 million Swedish coupons are redeemed every year. In addition, more and more players offer their own loyalty- or membership cards, and there is an increase in the demand for mobile ticketing solutions. Valuecodes AS will offer an effective system for handling digital value codes and will assist companies and consumers in compiling all these codes in one place – in the mobile phone.

“Innovation is essential for Telenor and open innovation through partnership is thus strategically important. By establishing Valuecodes together with PayEx, our aim is to create an effective, secure and stable ecosystem for unique value codes in Scandinavia. The vital component is the mobile phone – always on, always present – as the carrier of all these services. Telenor will add important experience and competence, at the same time as Valuecodes AS will contribute with useful services on the mobile phone for consumers and companies alike,” says Christian Ursin-Holm, Vice President of New Business in Telenor and Chairman of the Board of Valuecodes AS.

“This initiative is of strategic importance and will further develop and refine our service portfolio within value codes towards actual needs and opportunities in the market. We are seeing a growing need for future-oriented payment services – which is the core business of PayEx – connected to marketing services and ticketing,” says Raymond Klavestad, CEO of PayEx Solutions AS.

“We are looking forward to developing sales triggering tools and ticketing services based on value codes in close dialogue with customers and partners. I see a great potential for businesses focusing on the consumer market”, says Andreas Gullberg, CEO of Valuecodes AS.

Valuecodes AS will supply a complete solution (”software as a service”) for paying, generating, distributing, validating and reporting/analysing value codes in real time. The service portfolio includes coupons, loyalty-/membership cards, trading stamps, punch cards and gift vouchers, as well as tickets for events and public transport. We will also supply value adding services within consultancy and integration, as well as acquisition and installation of hardware.

Telenor owns 51 per cent and PayEx 49 per cent of Valuecodes, which is based in Oslo, Norway.

About TelenorTelenor Group is an international provider of tele, data and media communication services. Telenor Group has mobile operations in 11 markets in the Nordic region, Central and Eastern Europe and in Asia, as well as a stake of close to 40 per cent in VimpelCom Ltd., operating in 10 markets. Headquartered in Norway, Telenor Group is one of the world’s major mobile operators with 184 million mobile subscriptions (per Q2 2010), revenues in 2009 of NOK 98 billion, and a workforce of approximately 40,000 employees. For more information about Telenor Group, please visit www.telenor.com

About PayExPayEx are the foremost experts in payments within the Nordic region. PayEx well over six hundred employees are motivated, inquisitive and innovative. Since 1972, PayEx have developed a vast expertise within payment services for internet and mobile trade, rating/billing, invoice and ledger management, collections, and credit management. PayEx also offers financial services such as factoring and consumer financing. Read more on www.payex.no